Frequent exposure to food cues in modern environments can desensitize sensory systems, reducing eating pleasure and prompting overeating to compensate. A 31-day web-based mindfulness training, compared to health training, may reduce this habituation response to high-calorie food stimuli in stressed, hungry individuals. The training appears to increase neural activity in brain regions for visual, olfactory, and emotion processing, potentially improving attention to food and enhancing eating pleasure, which could curb overeating and associated weight gain and disease risks.
Odors may enhance the sense of presence and immersion in virtual reality (VR) stress training for emergency personnel, potentially serving as stressors that modulate perceived psychophysiological stress. A portable fragrance dosing system using piezoelectric stainless steel micropumps was developed and validated, capable of delivering reproducible small quantities of an air-fragrance mixture close to the human nose for personalized odor presentation in VR. Validation results indicate the micropump releases odors with constant amounts. The theoretical background and planned experimental design for VR stress training incorporating olfactory technology are described.